Reflection: Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down

3600 WordsMay 13th, 201215 Pages

Reflection Paper 1

Reflection Paper

Reflection Paper 2

Overall Impression of Book:
I feel that Anne Fadiman narrated the story of Lia Lee’s and her family’s life in intimate and tragic detail. The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a poignant depiction of the struggle between loving parents, hard-working medical professionals, and a very precious child caught in the middle of a tug-of-war. Ms. Fadiman very distinctly illustrates how the collision of two cultures indirectly led to the demise of a little seven- year old girl.

I did not expect the story to end with Lia Lee in a persistent vegetative state. I was very excited when I first started the book, but I soon became rather…show more content…

They believed that, although more wealthy, more numerous, and politically more superior by resisting contact with “ this land of leeches” they would be less likely to succumb to tropical diseases(pg 120).

The Hmong were well known for being a self-sufficient people producing their own food, making their own weapons, hunting their own game including birds, monkeys, deer, wild pigs, tigers, and more. They fished, gathered fruit, wild vegetables, and honey. These individuals were farmers and have very intimate relationships with the natural world(pg 120). Foua Yang grew up in a mountainous clan such as this. She had revealed that everyone in her village performed the same tasks therefore causing no class system. “Since no one knew how to read no one felt deprived by the lack of literacy.” They believed that anything of importance that the children needed to know could be learned through spoken word or by example. The elders were essential for teaching the younger generation among many things how to hold sacred their ancestors, play the qeej, conduct a funeral, how to court a lover, how to track a deer, and how to build a

"The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down"
It is difficult enough to go to the emergency ward with a family member and speak the same language as the staff. The admitting nurse wants all insurance information, another nurse/secretary asks for injury/illness history and, meanwhile, the person who needs to see the doctor is waiting in pain. The stress mounts and communication becomes harder. Now, take that same scenario when someone in the ER does not speak the language or know the culture of the…

Summary of The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down
In ‘The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down’, Lia, a Hmong baby girl, is born to a Hmong family living in California as refugees away from their war torn land in Laos. In Laos the Lee’s where farmers and lived in the country according to their Hmong traditions and beliefs. In California they barely understood the language, much less Western culture or medicinal practices. In Hmong tradition, illness was seen as a spiritual problem rather than…

In the novel by Fadiman, The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down, is written about two cultures and their differences: Hmong and American. The clash between these two cultures interferes with the treatment of a three-month child, Lia Lee, which has been diagnosed with epilepsy. Her parents’ think is actually caused by the spirits. When it comes to the treatment for Lia her parents prefer to treat her with their own particular ways and medications, like in the Hmong culture, instead of going for…

Book Report
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - Anne Fadiman
This book addresses one of the common characteristics, and challenges, of health care today: the need to achieve a working knowledge of as many cultures as possible in health care. The Hmong population of Merced, California addresses the collision between Western medicine and holistic healing traditions of the Hmong immigrants, which plays out a common dilemma in western medical centers: the need to integrate modern western…

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down Anne Fadiman
Introduction
Question One: How important was the birth of new children to the Hmong population, and what was the cultural response for a Hmong couple who were not able to conceive and bear a child?
Answer One: It should be explained that the Hmong culture believed in and relied on mythical and mystical solutions in many cases. Observing spiritual rituals and believing in fables was very important for Hmong, and when a Hmong couple could…

and physical ailment. According to Fadiman (1997), “…the noise of the door had been so profoundly frightening that her soul had fled her body and become lost. They recognized the resulting symptoms as qaug dab peg, which means ‘the spirit catches you and you fall down’”(p.20). To the Lee family, Lia’s condition was as revered as it was frightening. While a person with qaug dab peg was traditionally held in high esteem in the Hmong culture, it was also terrifying enough that the Lee’s rushed Lia…

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down by Anne Fadiman is about the cross-cultural ethics in medicine. The book is about a small Hmong child named Lia Lee, who had epilepsy. Epilepsy is called, quag dab peg1 in the Hmong culture that translates to the spirit catches you and you fall down. In the Hmong culture this illness is sign of distinction and divinity, because most Hmong epileptics become shaman, or as the Hmong call them, txiv neeb2. These shamans are special people imbued with healing spirits…

Spirit Catches You Essay
The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down is a book by Anne Fadiman about a Hmong family (the Lee’s) that moved to the United States. It deals with their child Lia, her American doctors, and the collisions of those two cultures. In Fadiman’s unbiased book I learned that there are many cultural differences between Hmong and Americans concerning opinions, stubbornness, and misunderstandings.
To begin with, a cultural difference between Hmong and Americans are their…

The Spirit Catches You and You Fall Down - Summary and Reading Log
Chapter 1 - Birth
Chapter 1 goes through the traditional birthing methods and traditions of the Hmong people. One of the most significant traditions is burying the placenta. The placenta has to be strategically buried in a specific spot under the homes dirt floor or when the person dies its soul has to travel back to the placenta. This chapter also introduces the characters Nao Kao and Foua Lee. Nao is husband and father of 13…

I have to admit when I first read “The spirit catches you and you fall down” I thought it would be pretty boring turns out its one of the most interesting books I have ever read. The cultural conflicts can apply to anyone and knowing a little bit more now what the Hmong people have actually gone through can make everyone develop a great amount of respect for the culture. The Lee family continuously went full force colliding with the American ways in order to protect their traditions so they could…